


The thin line in between

by Egle_js



Series: Crossroads [2]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, Genius Bulma Briefs, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Sex Talk, Sexual Tension, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Vegeta Being an Asshole (Dragon Ball), Vegeta being Vegeta (Dragon Ball), What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:35:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29927292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Egle_js/pseuds/Egle_js
Summary: Trunks' time jumps to save Earth from cyborgs have spawned multiple timelines. In each of these there are cornerstones of reality, pillars that support dimensions. But what if one of these pillars fails? What if Bulma was killed in a trivial bank robbery? What if she had never left to look for the Dragon Balls and had never met Goku and consequently Vegeta? (Follow-up to Crossroad, but you can also read it without having read the previous fanfic)
Relationships: Bulma Briefs & Vegeta, Bulma Briefs/Vegeta
Series: Crossroads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200914
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	The thin line in between

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone and welcome to this new story. It is the sequel to the previous story, Crossroad, but it can also be read without having read the previous one.  
> 

**NOTE**

A little note that will help you in the reading (I promise that only this first chapter is so messed up, then it will get easier. In this chapter we see three Bulma. **  
BULMA I:** Future Trunks' mom. **  
BULMA II:** the protagonist of this story is about thirty years old, like Bulma in the Freeza Saga ****  
BULMA III :. Bulma protagonist of Crossroad, the previous story. A few years have passed since the previous story, Bulma is about forty and has short hair. Trunks is 8 years old.  
I hope you enjoy the first chapter.

**BULMA I**

Bulma slowed her breathing. Numbers and symbols alternated in her mind, combining in a complicated dance. It had been three days since she had locked herself up in her laboratory. She had barely fed, her brain continued to work non-stop.

_You can do it, girl. The solution is there in front of you, you just have to find it._

The scientist stood up, her legs uncertain. She walked over to the wall and erased part of the equation in anger.

_Damn._

She grabbed the red marker and drew some symbols, giving a different value to a variable. A roar broke the still air. The earth began to shake violently. Long black cracks opened in the floor.

_No…_

"Mom." Trunks snapped the door open. "We have to go"

Bulma took her computer and took some pictures. The earth swayed more and more violently, the ceiling began to peel off in large pieces of plaster and brick.

Trunks grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back just in time to avoid being hit by some debris. The boy flew to the time travel machine and let Bulma into it. "Stay here," he said, walking back to retrieve their backpacks. The world around them was collapsing.

_Not only collapsing ... it is dissolving ... Hurry up._

Bulma pressed a few buttons, lighting the capsule. One foot of the time machine sank into the void. Bulma gripped the seat more firmly.

"Trunks," she yelled. The boy hurried into the ship, closing the hatch. Bulma closed her eyes tightly. The ceiling fell above them in a thunder. The floor gave way into a chasm and everything was engulfed in ash and flames. A flash of white light and then darkness.

*

Bulma moved her neck slowly, a dull ache hammering the back of her skull. She raised her head slightly, realizing that she had collapsed on the control panel. Trunks' arm rested on her shoulders, a hand on her head to protect her. Bulma reached out and stroked his wisteria hair.

"Honey," she called softly. Trunks groaned in pain. She gave him time to recover as she looked around. Trees, green fields, the distant sound of an airplane. Bulma was surprised to think that all that green hurt her eyes.

"Where we are?" Trunks asked, opening the hatch. A gust of fresh air invaded the passenger compartment, filling her lungs. Bulma raised her face upwards, enjoying the warm caress of the sun.

_Maybe it would be better to say when we are._

She got off the ship, taking a few steps. She took the backpack Trunks handed her and then reduced the time machine into a capsule. "You keep it," she said, handing it to him. The scientist took a deep breath and checked her smartwatch.

"This is the day I am killed," Bulma announced. She put on a hat and hid her long blue hair under it. She could feel Trunks' searching gaze on her.

"You solved…"

Bulma shook her head. “No, but we have to act. We don't know how much time remains or what is happening in the other timelines. At the moment it is the only crazy variable in this timeline. We ... we can't wait any longer "

She turned and smiled at him. "Come on, it's a long walk to town"

*

It was just as she remembered it. The restaurants, the ice cream parlor, the shops, the park with swings. Memories washed over her in painful waves. She stopped suddenly. The clock struck a few minutes before noon. "That's where it happens," Trunks said, pointing to the bank. "You stay out here, I'll take care of it"

_In all timelines I have always had an adventurous life. I have survived the most powerful warriors on Earth, I have undertaken journeys, I have fought a lot ... in all but this one where I am killed in a banal bank robbery ..._

Bulma caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A small anomaly. "Trunks," she murmured, pointing to a car with the engine running. There was no guard at the entrance to the bank. The doors were closed.

_The robbery has already begun. Reality is already changing…._

Trunks wasted no time in answering her, throwing himself against the glass doors and smashing them. A sound of gunfire. Trunks’s energy permeated the air in electric whips. Bulma waited only a moment before running to the bank. Her heart was beating madly. Inside the building the floor was covered with glass and blood. Someone was screaming. She saw Trunks grab one of the robbers' arm and snap it clean.

Bulma looked around until she saw her. Pain and affection gripped her stomach. She looked at the younger Bulma, feeling a sweet nostalgia. Fashionable clothes. High heels. The hair that touched her shoulders. The inevitable cell phone held in hand.

_She is so young… she has her whole life ahead of her and she doesn't even know it. Great things await you, girl. Live ... you must live ..._

The sharp noise of a magazine being inserted into the weapon.

The machine gun began firing, shredding everything in its path. Bulma didn't know what instinct made her turn at that moment… maybe it was just luck. She moved quickly. The Capsule Corp. hat fell to the floor, freeing her long blue hair. She threw herself on young Bulma, shielding her with her body.

_Live, girl._

The scientist opened her mouth in a silent scream. She collapsed to her knees. Blood streamed from her body in warm gushes. Life slipped away… She rolled onto her side, collapsing to the floor. Trunks' screams were far away. The scientist looked into the blue eyes of the other Bulma, also lying on the ground. Blood was spreading beneath her in a pool.

_The bullet went through me… she thought we're both dying._

"Mum! No ... mom " _Perdonami, piccolo._

One last look at Trunks' eyes. To that expression so similar to that of Vegeta, of her Vegeta who has been dead for many years now. She wondered confusedly if she would finally see him again. The scientist wondered if the warmth of his embrace was unchanged ... if his voice still had ...

Bulma smiled. She no longer remembered the sound of his voice.

It was her last thought before merging with the dark.

**BULMA III**

She put two drops of perfume on her neck, then moved her head to tinkle the earrings. She turned so that she could check in the mirror how the dress fell onto her back. The scars were still visible, light pearly marks on her skin, an indelible reminder of the tortures of Freeza's army. She had thought about erasing the scars with surgery, hiding them under her clothes… in the end, she had decided not to give a damn.

She smoothed the dress with her hands, then put on high heels. She walked out of the room, hearing a commotion from the living room. "Trunks, Goten," Bulma called. "Trunks" she screamed aloud when she saw the fragments of a vase on the floor and the children playfully beating each other in midair.

“Not at home. Clean everything "

Trunks and Goten sat back down on the sofa. Popcorn scattered everywhere. "Now," Bulma ordered, taking the bag.

"But mom!" Trunks mumbled, walking listlessly to the broom closet. He added something in an incomprehensible language, handing his friend a broom.

"We don't speak alien languages in this house, young man," Bulma replied, glancing towards the Gravity Room. All the lights were still on. “Where the hell is your father? He said he would look after you tonight ... "

Bulma was on her way to the training room when the ground shook beneath her feet. She clung to the doorpost. Trunks and Goten immediately on the defensive. The Capsule Corp. alarm began to ring.

"Mum"

Her heart skipped a beat recognizing the voice that was calling her from the outside. She grabbed Goten by the shoulder, pushing him backwards. "Go get Vegeta," she ordered, running to the back patio. Bulma didn't have time to reach the door, when teenage Trunks appeared in the doorway.

It was the blood that Bulma first noticed. There was blood everywhere. On the shirt, on his face.

 _He's hurt_ , she thought for a moment.

Then she saw the woman he was carrying with one arm. Her deadly pallor. Blue hair streaked with gray encrusted with blood. And then another woman on Trunks's shoulders, barely conscious. Blue hair, spread over her son's shoulder.

"They're both dying," adult Trunks shouted.

"This way," she said quickly, preceding him down the corridor to the elevator. She held the elevator door open to let him through first. The Bulma on her back gave her a misty look. She pushed eight-year-old Trunks backwards and prevented him from entering. "Warn your grandfather." she added, pressing the button to go down to the basement. The elevator doors closed in an unreal silence. Bulma turned to her son… that son who wasn't completely hers… She looked at Bulma on his back, her face young, her eyes scared. Her breath came out lightly.

_Move. She doesn't have much time left._

As the doors opened, she preceded Trunks into a medical room. "Put them there," she ordered, turning on the lights and pointing to two nearby stretchers. The younger Bulma screamed, bending over and putting a hand to her abdomen. The blood kept pouring out, spilling onto the white sheets.

_She still has the strength to scream. Good. It means we have time._

She took a towel and placed it on the younger Bulma's wound. He looked into her frightened eyes. "Press hard," she ordered.

_I have to take care of the other one ..._

Bulma froze for just a moment, staring at her face… her face, marked with fatigue and worry. Some silver threads streaked her hair. She could have been fifteen or twenty years older than her.

"It's my mother," Trunks whispered, trembling.

_I know, my child._

Bulma cut her clothes, opening a gash in the fabric so she could examine the wound on her belly. "Help me turn her"

_The bullet went in and out. The bullet pierced the stomach. Maybe the liver. There is hardly any blood coming out of the wound._

She put two fingers on her neck. _I don't feel the pulse. I do not…_

She looked up as her father walked into the hall. He was wearing his lab coat and was holding the diagnostic machine. Dr. Briefs walked over to Bulma on the table, lips set in a thin line.

“In the healing capsule. Immediately"

Trunks pushed the stretcher, following Dr. Briefs. His hands were shaking. Bulma watched them leave, before turning to the younger version of herself.

_And now let's try to keep you alive, girl._

***

She looked at her face reflected in a mirror. Bulma looked tired. It had been a long night. She smoothed her short hair with her fingers, then ran her hand over her aching neck. Bulma walked down the stairs barefoot. The lights throughout the house were on.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking at Trunks and Vegeta. They were sitting at the kitchen table. Trunks was wearing clean clothes. His head was bowed to his chest. Long hair hid his face like a curtain. A hand of Vegeta was on his shoulder. The Saiyan hastened to withdraw her as soon as he sensed her presence. He glanced at her to make sure she hadn't seen him.

_No, Prince of the Saiyans… I saw you… it's amazing that you are still ashamed after all these years._

She poured herself a cup of hot coffee and then sat down opposite her son.

"They're stable," Bulma announced, slowly sipping the hot drink. “Your mother had lost a lot of blood when she got here. The bullet went through her intestines and a kidney. We lowered her temperature and at the moment she is in a pharmacological coma "

Trunks looked at her in alarm.

Bulma just shook her head. "It's just a precaution. We also gave her a transfusion with my blood. My father is monitoring her. He will call us if there is any news. We have to wait".

Trunks nodded. Hands abandoned on the table.

"And the other?" Vegeta asked.

Bulma exhaled deeply. _She screamed until we sedated her. She is scared. She believes she has been kidnapped by people who want to harm her._

“The bullet did not touch any vital organs. She was lucky. She is sedated now, but will expect answers when she wakes up. And we too ... what happened? "

Trunks exhaled deeply, pulling his hair back. “We don't know… that is… my mother made some assumptions, but… our reality started to fall apart… as if the primary chemical bond that holds the atoms together could no longer guarantee the composition of matter. It all started with an earthquake ... "

The boy stopped for a moment to take a sip of water. "We went through all nine timelines ... until we found it ..."

"What?"

Trunks' incredibly blue eyes lingered on her. "The anomaly. In every parallel reality, there are conditions that repeat themselves… similar to pillars. Except in one. You ... in short, the Bulma of that reality was killed in a bank robbery. "

_That is the girl who is downstairs._

"If I get killed, you don't exist," she replied automatically. Trunks nodded again.

“My mother also came to the same conclusion, but she couldn't prove it scientifically. We both went to her dimension to save her, but… it was my fault… I thought my mom was out of the bank. I didn't know she would throw herself in front of the girl ... "

Bulma placed a hand on her son's arm, stroking him softly. _Oh, honey._

“Your mother always does what she wants. Stop feeling guilty, ”Vegeta said dryly, standing up. "There are a couple of hours to dawn. Let's go to sleep"Bulma lo guardò. Il suo cuore a volte sembrava sul punto di scoppiare per l’amore che provava per lui.

Trunks started to protest but gave up.

“Your room is ready. Come." Bulma said. She waited for the boy to get to his feet before preceding him up the stairs. She gave him clean pajamas and a toothbrush. She waited for him to change in the bathroom and then crawl under the sheets. She turned the covers back on him, sitting down on the mattress next to him.

"No need, you know ... I'm no longer a small child" murmured the half Saiyan with a tired smile. The tension was finally giving way to exhaustion. Despite everything, Bulma suspected he would fall asleep as soon as she left.

She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I know. I need it. Sleep well, honey, ”she said. Bulma got up and turned off the light. Capsule Corp. was eerily quiet at that time of night. Bulma headed to her and Vegeta's bedroom.

He was already in bed. One arm folded under the head. She quickly undressed, lying down next to him. The head resting on his bare chest. Vegeta's strong, steady heartbeat beneath her.

She felt his fingers travel her back in a light caress. Vegeta wasn't going to fall asleep. He would stay awake to watch over them.

And Bulma loved the fact that he would do it next to her and not locked in the gravity room.

She smiled faintly, kissing him on the shoulder. “I hear the sound of your thoughts,” she whispered, rubbing her face in the hollow between his neck and shoulder. Vegeta tensed a little, before relaxing again against the mattress.

_He will not answer. Sometimes, he still seems so unreachable ... His indecipherable thoughts ..._

"The boy ..." he began, surprising her, "he exists in all dimensions."

Bulma nodded. She could almost physically feel Vegeta struggling with words.

"It means that the two of us ..."

Bulma bit her lower lip to keep herself from smiling too openly. She kissed his jaw lightly, running a hand over his chest. "It's a very romantic way of looking at it," Bulma whispered, moving her lips up to his ear.

Vegeta growled, grabbing her by the waist and causing her to lie beneath him.

Things didn't always go well. You did not always survive, but in all realities we found each other ... we fell in love ...

Bulma gently stroked his face as Vegeta's hands moved up to his hips and worked their way under the light nightgown. Bulma barely bit his lower lip, moving under him.

"Take it easy, warrior" she whispered, before reaching for his lips for a long kiss.

**BULMA II**

The drugs prevented the pain from breaking out violently. They kept her in a semi-unconscious state, although her brain struggled to free itself from the chemical fog.

The woman who looked like her… indeed who claimed to be her more adult version of a parallel reality had told her a strange story, worthy of one of her father's books. Cyborgs, alien warriors, a rare heart disease that would have killed a certain Goku ... and the strange boy with wisteria hair who jumped from one dimension to another, like a new prophet, bringing news of death and destruction.

She replied that she had no idea what they were talking about. She had never known any Goku in her life.

The short-haired woman frowned. She had asked her if when she was sixteen she had gone on a journey in search of the Dragon Balls, had met a strange little boy with a monkey tail and if that hadn't changed her life.

Bulma replied that at sixteen she had already been admitted to MIT and had no intention of throwing away precious months of study looking for stupid Spheres. What she had not said was that her parents had just died and that she had to look after herself, among the various guardians who tried to command her. The sooner she was able to free herself, the sooner she no longer had to depend on others.

The revelation was greeted by silence. She had shifted her gaze from the short-haired woman to the boy who had brought her there. A strange silent communication was going on between the two.

They were about to leave when she called them back.

"Why me? People die every day for the stupidest reasons. Why did you come to save me? "

There was something ... in the boy's eyes. An ancient suffering, but also a kind of known nuance. If only she had believed it possible, she would have said that her soul recognized him… recognized something about him.

Bulma slumped against the pillow, exhaling deeply. She just wanted to go back to her home. No ... no one was expecting her at home except her job. But yet…

**BULMA III**

Bulma exhaled deeply, looking at the white walls crossed by the equations written in red. She had copied all the work of her future self and studied it for hours, always returning to the same point.

_Maybe she was wrong. Maybe the breaking point isn't Bulma's murder of that timeline. Maybe it's her meeting with Goku. Maybe that's what starts all events… if so we have broken the timeline in the wrong place… and I don't know how to fix this mistake._

Bulma ran her hands over her face. She barely smiled as two strong hands lifted her off the floor. The smell of Vegeta, his arms around her body ... she let herself be wrapped in his embrace, before giving him a light kiss on the lips.

"How long have I been in here?"

"Thirty hours," replied the warrior, brushing her short hair from her forehead. "If there was a solution, you would have already found it. You need a break"

Bulma wrapped her arms around his waist. "It looks like an order"

“It is, in fact, a woman. I want you to go to the kitchen and make me a sandwich. "

Bulma laughed, kissing him again. They had traveled through space together for years, moving from planet to planet, making alliances to save Earth from the next Freeza. They had been wonderful years, in which she had felt free ... But she had missed her planet. Very very much.

They had decided to return, also to give more stability to the brat. At first Bulma was afraid that Vegeta would go away again, alone.

He had never been a sedentary type… but perhaps he never had been because he hadn't had the chance before that moment. Bulma had never asked him if he considered Earth his home now, but she suspected so.

She watched him stare at the horizon, or stop suddenly, inhaling smells that only he could perceive ...

The darkness inside Vegeta had rebelled, but it had become less powerful every day. The silences were still there and he seemed distant from time to time, but Bulma no longer expected him to suddenly disappear.

He promised her he would always come back to her, but Vegeta had done more than that. He had stayed with her and Trunks.

He had allowed himself to be at peace, as he had never done before in his life.

"We have to get her home," Bulma said, breaking free from Vegeta's embrace and leading him out of the room. "By now the wound is on the mend, the fever is gone ... and it's getting harder and harder to keep her locked in that room."

Bulma bit the inside of her cheek. She opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water and the necessary for a sandwich. “I'm afraid she might see you… or my parents. For her it would be a shock ... and she shouldn't know too many things ... this could change the future of her timeline even more "

She looked out the window, hearing noises of struggle. Goten and Trunks were playfully battling Future Trunks. When the two children transformed into Super Saiyan Vegeta got up from the stool. It was enough to make them suddenly stop.

"Better not that close to the house," eight-year-old Trunks said, grabbing Goten by the coat. "Let's get away a little"

Bulma smiled faintly, but made no comment. Vegeta sat up again.

"If she doesn't know Goku, how will she ..." he said. She cut the sandwich in half and took part. "... to meet you?"

Vegeta shrugged. He tapped the table with his fingertips. "The deviation of that dimension may have been the death of your parents. This prevented Bulma from leaving and meeting Goku, but the boy's arrival may have caused the time line to deviate again ... Without the boy's arrival, she would have had no reason to meet Goku "

Bulma nodded. "Maybe you are right, but ..."

"Just because your equation doesn't confirm it doesn't mean it's wrong."

Bulma was about to reply that if the math doesn't validate the hypothesis, it was very likely that it was wrong, but she held back. Bulma took another bite of the sandwich, feeling hunger increase rather than decrease.

"If he ... the other me ... is on Earth, it won't take him long to sleep with her," he concluded.

Bulma frowned. "It took you months to sleep with me," she pointed out.

Vegeta pursed his lips in an indecent smile. "But in the end I did it, didn't I?"

Bulma grabbed the empty plate and placed it in the sink. She hated it when he won an argument. She started to walk away when he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. He brought his hands up to her hips, looking intently at her.

"You're unbearable," Bulma mumbled, before kissing him.


End file.
